Security guards patrolled the boundary of Spaulding Field this week, chasing off any eager onlookers or suspicious-looking cameramen.

There was good reason for additional paranoia, as it turned out: UCLA had decided to put two-way phenom Myles Jack exclusively at running back.

A week ago, Jim Mora looked ahead at the matchup against Arizona State and decided that — for one game — the true freshman would be best suited on offense. The Bruins planned a heavy dose of nickel defense, and he figured that Jack’s role there wouldn’t be as crucial as in their standard 3-4.

So much for that.

Entering the 38-33 loss, UCLA had allowed 168.2 rushing yards per game and kept most quarterbacks in check on the ground. By halftime, the Sun Devils had rolled out 208, with redshirt junior Taylor Kelly chewing UCLA up on zone reads. The dual-threat signal-caller had 84 yards at the break, more than anyone else in the game.

With the Bruins’ defense missing its third-leading tackler, ASU repeatedly ran the ball away from All-American Anthony Barr. Why not try Jack again at linebacker? The UCLA staff had legitimate concerns about how well an 18-year-old true freshman could switch back over.

“We weren’t ready to just abandon the run game,” Mora said. “He hadn’t worked on defense all week. I think it would have been unfair to put him in.

“Myles not playing defense wasn’t the problem today. That wasn’t the problem.”

Jack stuck to the company line, saying that the staff put whomever was best out on the field. He agreed that if coaches had elected to use him again on defense, he would have been unprepared for the Arizona State playbook.

“I’m sure they weren’t even considering that at that time, in the middle of the game,” Jack said.

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Another problem was that his offensive workload didn’t increase enough for a worthwhile tradeoff. He led the team with 86 rushing yards, but only toted the ball 16 times — three more than what he had a week ago against Washington.

Mora’s own criticism of the freshman also came to fruition. Over the past two weeks, the coach had cited Jack’s inexperience with pass protection as a reason he couldn’t take on more work out of the backfield.

That showed against the Sun Devils, who clinched their first Pac-12 South title. Coupled with a poor showing from the offensive line, UCLA gave up a season-high nine sacks.

“I feel like I struggled,” Jack said. “It’s definitely hard to learn pass pro in what, five days? That’s definitely tough. … My experience with pass pro and everything, I had to get pulled out because I’m not reliable in that type of situation.”

Held back by youth and injuries, the Bruins are still short of making a legitimate national splash. They’re on the upswing, but need more depth, more talent. Another strong recruiting class would do wonders.

Though a rivalry game at USC still looms this coming weekend, Mora shifted into what sounded like an end-of-season speech. He wasn’t conceding Los Angeles, no. But all year long, the Bruins had talked about Rose Bowls and championships.

As those dreams died Saturday night, he could only talk about next year.

“There’s something growing around here that’s going to be special,” Mora said. “It’s not there yet. But It’s growing. I’m proud of them.

“I’m honored to be their coach. I’m lucky to be the coach at UCLA. I’m excited about the future of this program.”